Are you trying to blend the right set of skills to fit into the fastest growing digital world?

This era is so overwhelming; it wants you to learn, re-learn and unlearn rapidly to stay updated.

Same is the case with me!! It has been a month that I have entered back into Mad-Marketing-digital world. My new job at SCoRe has introduced me to some very interesting concepts. I am trying to understand, master and implement different skill sets. Out of many such techniques, you require as a Marketing/PR professional in today’s digital world like data analysis, 10X concept, coding, CX, etc. I have found digital psychology to be the most interesting and base for all. With reference from blogs, YouTube videos and the book called ‘Influence’ let me give u a simple understanding of this term digital psychology.

Digital psychology combines psychology and behavioural economics in a digital space. It gives an understanding of how most of the human brain works or reacts to a certain situation.

Let’s look at 7 different types of psychological human behaviour that marketers use to do smart sell – digital psychology!

1. Commitments and Consistency

Have you ever tried dieting, but failed?

Next time try posting about your diet challenge on your social media, you will definitely achieve it. A study shows that people who state publicly that they want to lose weight were more successful. Marketers can leveraged this sense of being committed in different ways like online auctions, social media contest, try on home program tactics, etc.

2. Reciprocity

It is a sense of obligation to keep returning favours to people who have done something for us. It’s like when your friend keeps giving you treats you get obligated to treat him back.

This rule works not only with people you know but also with strangers. Example of this is – ‘StyleCracker’ – they send you a surprise box of clothes and accessories. They ask you to pay only for stuff you like and what you want to keep. Here people end up keeping at least 1-2 items from the box.

3. Scarcity – fear of losing

Humans are far more motivated with the fear of losing than the desire of gaining.

This rule is widely used by online shopping portal –

‘Only 2 stock left’ or ‘discount price will last only for 1 hour’

4. Social proof

People believe other people (or their social group) more than they believe in a brand. Hence when you let people talk about your brand it helps your sales.

Classic example for this is – reading the reviews before buying stuff online, booking hotels etc

5. Rewards

Everybody likes rewards and appreciation. A shot of dopamine gets released and mediates pleasure in the brain. In other words: rewards make us come back for more.

We all can relate to shopping more on cashback points! Also tactics like – ‘get 5% off on next purchase post referring to your 5 friends’ works best.

6. Triggers

Triggers are anything that sparks us to complete a particular action. They tell us what to do next.

Example – extremely visible ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Shop Now’ button on online portals.

7. Need to complete

Study says we, as humans, don’t like to leave things incomplete. We are motivated to finish a set of tasks, even with no further reward other than the satisfaction of completing them. 

‘A progress bar’ which we see while doing online bookings for hotels is an amazing example that applies this rule.

Related article – (Cheat Sheet!) Different Target Audience, different tones

As the best marketing strategy is based on knowing your customers well. Digital psychology helps you to understand their mind-set on an online platform and enhance customer experience.

Try observing such marketing tactics next time you go online and do share any exciting examples you see.

Happy Marketing!!

–Shreya Doshi

Shreya is currently part of a Marketing team at School of COmmunication and REputation, Mumbai (SCoRe). She has completed her Masters in Marketing and Advertising from Mumbai Educational Trust (MET) University. She loves to travel, enjoys the thrill while performing adventure sports, and loves music and dance.

She can be reached on Twitter and LinkedIn